No More Room in Hell
by Rose DiVerona
Summary: A viral outbreak forces the Bartlet Administration to put re-election on the back burner while they deal with their newest (and strangest) challenge: zombies. Ensemble fic.
1. Prologue

A/N: Long-time fan of _The West Wing_, first time writing in the fandom.

This chapter's short - I'm mainly trying to gauge interest. Takes place between seasons 3 and 4.

* * *

**Prologue**

It began, as many crises seem to, with a single person—in this case, a twenty-nine year old man with a name no one knew before and no one would forget after. The most that could be said about Wilson Eckles was that the meteor landed in his parent's backyard in Pensacola one muggy July evening when he happened to be visiting, and he was the first to approach it. By nine the next morning, Wilson's wife Peggy had found him unresponsive and called an ambulance. By the time the ambulance arrived, Wilson Eckles was gone and what was left of his wife and daughter was found smeared all over the kitchen.

Police initiated a manhunt that ended within the hour when Wilson was discovered wandering in a swamp not half a mile away. He did not respond to commands to surrender and was felled by a shot to the chest. Twenty minutes later, he sat up in the coroner's van and bit a chunk out of the ME's arm. This was the first sign something was wrong.

But by that point, Eckles was no longer an isolated incident—his parents had mysteriously died as well.

**:**

C.J. was the first to hear the news. Unexplainable deaths, rising panic…she ignored the bit about the man who pulled a Jesus, certain that was a mistake. She went to see Josh, who actually laughed.

"Seriously? What are these guys trying to pull?"

She decided not to bring this up with Leo until she had more to go on.

She almost made it through the morning press briefing without addressing the bizarre story. But Kendall Wyatt from _The Post _was from Florida.

"Does the White House have a statement about the incident in Pensacola?"

Leo was probably going to fry her for this.

"Do we think a man came back to life? No. Look, stories like these have the potential to cause hysteria, and I would hate to think we were all fooled by an incredibly distasteful prank."

She'd barely stepped off when Toby grabbed her elbow and pulled her aside.

"What the _hell _was that?"

"That was me refusing to be impressed by a media fairy tale."

Toby snorted. "Yeah, well this is me telling you Leo is pissed."

Josh poked his head in.

"Hey, Leo wants to talk to you."

She ignored the slight twitch of Toby's mouth and pointedly turned her back.

**:**

Leo wasn't exactly _pissed_, but he wasn't happy, either. He had a copy of the paper on his desk.

"Mind filling me in?"

She straightened, but Sam toppled through the door before she could get a word out.

"Turn on the TV."

Bemused, Leo reached for the remote. "What channel?"

"Doesn't matter."

The television clicked on.

"…dangerous situation. Again, authorities are asking everyone to stay inside until further notice." The red banner running across the bottom screamed: 'Possible Virus Outbreak.' The byline was Pensacola, Florida.

Leo swore and lunged for his phone. "Why are we always the last to find out about these things?"


	2. Chapter 1

**1**

(One week later...)

The Deputy Chief of Staff blinked at the memo in his hand, sure his eyes were deceiving him.

"_Zombies_? You're kidding, right?"

Donna arched an eyebrow. "Do I _look _like I'm kidding?"

Josh studied his assistant's expression. "No. That is not a funny Donna face. But—_zombies_?"

Donna Moss sighed and turned to leave the office. "The lights are on, but nobody's home."

He caught up to her in the bullpen. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around this. It's not every day the White House decides to announce there are dead people walking around."

"Technically, they're the _un_dead. And how else do you explain what's been happening?"

"I don't. I'm categorically denying this is happening. There are no flesh-eating creatures of the night."

"And Ritchie's going to win the election." Donna's sarcasm was clear, but Josh gaped at her.

"Bite your tongue, Donnatella!"

She rolled her eyes. "Besides, you've seen too many movies. This hasn't spread too far yet, and we don't really know all the details. It's just a disease."

"Yeah. A disease that brings dead people back to life."

"Stop it."

"They're coming to get you, Donna!"

"I mean it!"

**:**

Toby had been to the doctor's not three weeks before, but he was beginning to wonder if he needed to get his hearing checked out.

"Come again?"

"We need to write a speech for the President discussing the zombie situation," Sam repeated slowly. He sounded calm, but his eye was twitching.

Toby scratched his cheek. "This is not what I signed on for," he said finally.

Sam laughed dryly. "Tell me about it."

"We're actually going with this? We're gonna tell the public that the zombie apocalypse has begun."

"Hey, that's pretty good." Sam made a note.

"_Sam_!"

"Toby, if we don't try to laugh at this at least a little, we're all going to start screaming instead."

"Start?" Toby jumped to his feet and began pacing. "I haven't stopped screaming since the first reports came through eight days ago!"

Sam nodded. "Well, you're being very subtle about it."

Toby glared at him. Sam continued undeterred.

"I was thinking we could lead with, 'When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.' President Bartlet could pull it off."

"Get out of my office," Toby growled.

"You'll come around!" Sam promised as he ducked the rubber ball being thrown at his head. It ricocheted off the doorframe and bounced neatly back into its owner's hand.

Toby sighed. "I don't get paid enough for this job."

**: **

"I don't want to do this."

Leo shrugged. "You don't have a choice."

C.J. tapped her pen on the folder in her lap. "I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it. They're going to laugh, Leo. They're going to laugh at this White House. They're going to laugh at _me._"

"I've always said you were a funny person," Leo deadpanned. He sighed and leaned forward, waving at the T.V. over C.J.'s shoulder. "They're not laughing, C.J. The witnesses, the family members, the police—they know something is very wrong. Maybe they haven't figured it out yet, but if this thing keeps spreading, it's only a matter of time."

"I just don't know how to approach this. We've been briefed on terrorist attacks and natural disasters, and pretty much every contingency except what we'd do in case of _zombies_." Her mouth twisted around the word distastefully. "I keep thinking maybe the entire nation is on some bad acid trip and someone forgot to tell me."

"I wish that were the case."

C.J. sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Okay. But I'm going to need more information before I take this in front of the press."

Leo nodded. "Which is why we're having a senior staff meeting in an hour, and then a meeting with the President and the Joint Chiefs after that. In the meantime, see if Josh has heard from Joey Lucas."

C.J.'s eyebrows flew up. "You can't be serious. _Now_?"

"Until further notice, we're still campaigning. And right now we could use all the help we can get."

**: **

President Bartlet was enjoying what he knew would be his last peaceful minutes of the day. For the moment, there was no impending election. There was no mysterious "virus" making its way up the east coast. There was just a beautiful summer day and a game of chess.

"Did you know," he began, his eyes fixed on the checkered board, "that President Lincoin signed legislation to establish the Secret Service on the very day he was assassinated?"

Charlie shifted and glanced at his boss. "No, I didn't know that, sir." He carefully nudged a pawn into position and winced when the President promptly took it out.

"And that the original purpose of the Secret Service was to investigate counterfeit money?"

"That's really interesting, Mr. President."

Jed's eyes narrowed. "Are you mocking me, Charlie?"

The young man shook his head quickly, though a smile curled the corners of his mouth. "Of course not, sir."

"I suppose you think it's strange that I want to play chess and talk about history with what's happening right now."

Charlie sat back and shook his head again, genuinely this time.

"It's a relief not tothink about it for a little while. My sister is scared to go to school."

"There haven't been any reports here yet."

"Try telling that to her."

The president drummed his fingers on his knee. "Yeah. It's a mess."

Charlie pursed his lips. "What's going to happen, Mr. President?"

Jed's eyes strayed to the portrait of George Washington on the wall.

"I don't know, Charlie. I just don't know."


End file.
